The present invention relates, generally, to a ratchet wrench and drive socket assembly. More particularly, the invention is directed to a ratchet wrench with a size-graduated series of handle-housed drive sockets conveniently arranged, readily identifiable, easily removable for use as required, and relocatable in the wrench handle for storage and for later withdrawal and reuse, as required.
Wrenches with handle-carried tool elements are known in the art. Among these are ratchet wrenches formed with handle cavities for accommodating stored drive sockets. In some such prior art tools, access digitally to the stored sockets is restricted and effectively impaired. Removal of any particular, selectable socket for use is difficult or awkward. In others of the prior art devices, the particular sizes of the stored sockets are not marked, or adequately displayed so as to be readily identifiable. One must guess. One must resort to time-consuming xe2x80x9ctrial and errorxe2x80x9d steps, as he picks and chooses, to find, but only after delay, the correct socket for the task at hand. In yet others of the pror art ratchet drive wrenches which carry a series of variously-sized drive sockets, it is not feasible, in any specific situation, to determine, without first physically removing a given socket from its stored position in the handle of the wrench, whether that given, particular drive socket is, in fact, the correct size required.
It is a principal aim of the present invention to provide a drive-socket-carrying ratchet wrench which is simple in structure, effectve and convenient in use, and which obviates many of the shortcomings of earlier devices.
The present invention provides improvements in a ratchet wrench of the type which includes an elongate handle and a reversible, rotatable drive adapted operationally to engage selectively any and each of a plurality of drive sockets to be coupled therewith for functional use with the wrench.
It is an important feature of the present invention that the handle of the ratchet wrench is formed with a plurality of distinct and discrete cavities of different sizes for receiving therein in secured yet removable engagement therewithin each of a series of selectable differently sized drive sockets for operational use with the socket wrench.
A related feature of the invention is that each of the cavities in the handle of the ratchet wrench is generally cylindrical and has a principal axis normal to a lineal expanse of the body of the wrench.
A very important feature of the invention is that there are provided holding elements within the cavities for engaging and releasably retaining the drive sockets in the handle of the wrench.
It is a related feature of the invention that, in a preferred embodiment thereof, the socket-holding elements contact and engage the sockets frictionally. In a specific embodiment of the invention, the physical material which comes into direct contact with the sockets when the latter are in place in their respective cavities is of a resilient, elastomeric composition. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the socket-securing elements take the form of elastomeric fingers seated in grooves formed in the generally cylindrical walls which bound the cavities in which the various sockets are housed.
It is an important feature of the socket-holding handle of the wrench of the invention that the socket carrying cavities extend entirely through the body of the handle, thus allowing socket removal, axially, in either of opposed directions.
A valuable time-conserving feature of the invention is the provision of readily and clearly perceptible visual indicia displayed on the handle of the tool for identifying each particular socket to be housed in each specific corresponding cavity in the tool handle.
An important capability derived from the particular mode of disposition of the drive sockets in the handle of the tool of the invention is that the socket size elected can be verified by allowing trial socket placement over a given fastenerxe2x80x94all without removal of the socket from the tool handle.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the body of the ratchet drive wrench comprises a molded body of plastics composition sandwiched between upper and lower metal plates.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the drawings.